Here is a guest post by Sir Anthony Buzzard. In it, he discuses what many would consider an obvious point, though some ignore or deny it: that the theology of Bible-era Judaism is monotheistic in a way that implies that the one God just is a certain mighty self. In Mark 12, Jesus simply affirms that theology.
It is standard information in all the big Dictionaries and Encyclopedias that Judaism, based on its Scriptures, believed God to be a single Person, a single undifferentiated Self. That is what I and many others call unitary monotheism. or unipersonal monothesism. Often referred to as strict monotheism, although I see this last phrase could be ambiguous.
The Bible is turned into chaos if one superimposes philosophical language on to its simple realism. God is said to be a single Self (He calls Himself a nephesh) thousands and thousands of times. This is the massive, pervasive and obvious evidence to be dealt with.
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) and Scripture convinced Judaism always to believe in unitary monotheism. Thus at Oxford, the Regius Professor lecturing on the Trinity said “Judaism was always unitarian.”
The major point to be taken in is that Jesus affirmed that unitary monotheism of Judaism. (Mark 12:28-34) The Jew who agreed with Jesus showed that Jesus was entirely Jewish in his description of who God is. One single self. The Jew echoed back Jesus words by saying “there is no other except HIM,” It takes no special learning to know that Him is one WHO! One Self. Some would urge that the Shema makes no proposition one way or the other about how many Persons God is! This is not true at all. What good is a creed if it is so unclear? It really impugns the integrity of Holy Scripture (and Jesus said that “salvation is from the Jews”) if we are unable to give a clear meaning to the Shema.
I need only quote three sources which are echoed by many: Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (Judaism):
Abraham, Moses and Elijah were all equally zealous monotheists and in none of their successors was there any retrogression from the highest and purest form of unitarian belief.
Leonard Hodgson D. D., Regius Professor at Oxford: :
The monotheism of the Jews was then, as it is still, unitarian. (Christian Faith and Practice, 1952, p. 74.)
The Jewish Encyclopedia:
Judaism has always been rigorously unitarian (“Deism,” Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.)
Emil Brunner:
Judaism [is] Unitarian (Dogmatics, Vol. 1. p. 205).
Jesus agreed with the Jews in Mark 12:29, and as Dr. Dennis Nineham says in his commentary on Mark, this passage is meant to demonstrate that Jesus was thoroughly orthodox in his description of God.
These non-complicated facts should settle our discussion, since we are all agreed that our Christian task is to follow the teaching of Jesus.
Some trinitarians suggest that in John 10:30 Jesus introduced something new. In this case Jesus was less than honest in his reply to the friendly Jew! But who today in commentary advances John 10:30 as any sort of Trinitarian proof? So the argument is defeated. Jesus did not change his mind on the definition of “God.” Nor did Paul when he affirms the same Shema in I Corinthians 8:4-6.
What Jesus did so brilliantly, anticipating no doubt controversy about his own status in relation to the One GOD, YHVH, was to teach them about Psalm 110:1.
The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
That Psalm, vv 1-4, is alluded to or cited 33 times in the NT and was decisive and should be decisive for us too. In Psalm YHVH is still one single SELF (as 7,000 times in the OT). YHVH directs an oracle to some other SELF. This of course defeats Modalism, and Modalism shows how terribly mired in controversy our subject can become!
Surely one does not need a PHD to tell us that a Father cannot be his own Son! Jesus never imagined such a thing, and the trinitarian must agree.
What Jesus shows in Psalm 110:1 is that the exalted Jesus is not a second YHVH or a second Person “in YHVH.” Rather he is the supremely exalted MAN Messiah, my lord, tragically misrendered in many versions (not all) as my Lord!
Paul said it all very easily in 1 Timothy 2:5:
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus
One God and one Man Messiah. Two selves. One of them is GOD.
The issues we are discussing are simply huge, since billions of human beings deserve to hear who God and Jesus really are. At present the very complex philosophical Trinity smothers good information. And few seem to know that the church fathers, the orchestrators of the Trinity, admitted that they were deliberately eliminating the “Jewish error”! That “Jewish error” was in fact that teaching of Jesus. How much does the public know of what really went on?
(Moses Deuteronomy 6: 4- 9 Moses )
The Greatest Commandment
(Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34)
1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
10And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; 15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. 17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. 18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, 19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
(Jesus – MARK 12:29)
The Greatest Commandment
(Deuteronomy 6:1-19; Matthew 22:34-40)
28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
The same Question was asked to Muhammad (PBUH), Christians of Najran who came to visit Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Muhammad allowed to stay in Masjeed e Nabvi in Madina at the discussion time of them as to Muhammad (PBUH) what is the Concept of God.
The same reply was told by Muhammad (PBUH ) as told by Moses (PBUH) and Jesus ( PBUH )
Quran Surah al Ikhlas 112 1 -4
112:1 Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
112:2 Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
112:3 He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
112:4 And there is none like unto Him.
All the Messenger of God the concept was same.
By strict monotheism I mean the unitary monotheism of Jesus and of Jews. Deut. 6:4 (Mk 12:29) is the unitary monotheism of Israel, and Jesus agreed with a Jew, whom Mark does not present as unfriendly, that Deut. 6:4 is the Great Command. This, then, must be the teaching of those who claim to follow Jesus.
Amazingly many in church seem not to think of the teachings of Jesus as of vital importance!
This ground fallacy must be corrected I think. Christianity in the NT is to be based on “obedience of faith,” and the words and teachings of Jesus are for us all. Why not return to Jesus by starting with his Great Command in Mark 12:29. Moslems and Jews would find this interesting too! “Strict monotheism,” as you suggest, ought to be completely unambiguous but I have seen it misused occasionally to mean a Triune God!
Mk 12:29 will yet solve denominational chaos. Jesus followed Mark 12:29 with a clever anticipation of what might happen to his own status. He defines his status as ADONI (kurios mou), “my lord” which is a non-Deity title all 195 times in the OT.. On no account can Ps 110:1 yield two who are YHVH! Jesus meant to block this frightful idea! Paul following Jesus, repeats the Shema in I Cor 8:4-6 and then puts Jesus, as the Messiah lord, not Lord God, at the right hand of YHVH. Luke 2:11 solves all problems. The one born is the “messiah lord” not the Lord God!. All the troubles and confusion arise from not knowing the vast difference between the Lord GOD and the Messiah (anointed lord) of Luke 2:11
@ Anthony
I find your post very clear and good (as should be always expected from you). Only a few questions.
Can you please explain why the expression “strict monotheism”, as you see it, “could be ambiguous”?
I am not quite sure which “friendly Jew” you have in mind. Jesus responded to this question of the “Jewish leaders”:
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (John 10:24)
Jesus immediate reply was not particularly encouraging:
“I told you and you do not believe.” (John 10:25)
Then, after the conclusion of Jesus’ reply …
“The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30)
… the response of the Jews is … er … rather unfriendly:
The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. (John 10:31)
Question: perhaps they suspected something blasphemous in John 10:30?
Surely you are aware that (not only “Cappadocian” trinitarians but also) Subordinationists resort to 1 Cor 8:6 as argument for the personal pre-existence of Jesus Christ?
BTW, wouldn’t you agree that the admission of the “personal pre-existence of a hypostasis”, however subordinated to “The God” was the at the origin of “Christianity’s self-inflicted wound”?
Indeed (not only “Cappadocian” trinitarians) but also Subordinationists agree. Nevertheless Christianity, historically had to deal with Madoalists, Sabellians and “patripassians”. And today we have “Oneness” Pentecostals …
If things were as easy as you depict them, surely the Protestant Reformation, not constrained by either tradition or authority would have got rid of the “trinity” … no?
@ Miguel de Servet
Actually when you quote any verse from Bible you should post completely so that the reader should understand clearly what you exactly want to say or what is the exact message from the bible for example for the above comment from @ Miquel de Servet.
From (John 10:24) (John 10:25) you jump to direct (John 10:30) and the (John 10:31)
John 10:24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
John 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
John 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
This is the complete Verse from John 10:24 to John 10:31 in this he never claim divinity .
He told “I and my Father are One “? In What way?
In Concept we both are one
Great post, I find it bizzare that some apologists are trying to argue for a multi-person God in the first Century in Jewish world, I haven’t gone into the arguments, but the last time I saw some one try and make that argument they appealed to Philo, which, if you actually read Philos’ theology, is rediculous.
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